Park waiting for cranes

Barren River Lake State Resort Park in south-central Kentucky expects to be a stopover point
again for sandhill cranes as they return to the north later in the winter and is offering a couple
of weekend sessions to view the birds.

The Kentucky Department of Parks says thousands of sandhill cranes stop at Barren River Lake
each year, taking advantage of the lake’s exposed mud flats for a place to rest. Plenty of food is
available in nearby farmland and wet meadows.

Nature Watch Weekends are set for Jan. 25-27 and Feb. 8-10. For details, call
1-800-325-0057.

N.Y. museum reopens

The South Street Seaport Museum in New York has reopened to visitors after damage from
superstorm Sandy, and it has two new exhibits.

The museum, at 12 Fulton St. in Lower Manhattan on the East River, is part of a neighborhood
popular with tourists.

The new exhibits are “Street Shots/NYC” and “A Fisherman’s Dream: Folk Art.”

Music fest to premiere

Five-time Grammy winner Buddy Guy will headline a new music festival in 2013 in Jackson,
Miss.

The Jackson Rhythm & Blues Festival will be held Sept. 20-21 on the grounds of the
Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum.

Wolf kills under scrutiny

The shooting of collared gray wolves from Yellowstone National Park is prompting Montana
wildlife commissioners to consider new restrictions against killing the predators in areas near the
park.

Wolf trapping in Montana will begin Dec. 15. It’s the state’s first such trapping season since
the animals lost their federal protections last year after almost four decades on the endangered
species list.

But hunting already is under way for the predators in Montana and neighboring Idaho and Wyoming,
and at least seven of Yellowstone’s roughly 88 wolves have been shot in recent weeks while
traveling outside the park.